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June 21, 2017

100 Days of Modern Improv Quilting – First 50 Days

It was a Tuesday morning in early April that I first heard
of the official The 100 Day Project.
I was sipping my coffee and catching up on my IG feed when I noticed a post by
Amanda from Gypsy Moon Quilt Co announcing she was joining in. Planning a 100 day project has been on my
“to-plan” list for awhile. I liked the idea of being creatively focused and
felt it would be a fun way to explore different ideas. What could I create if I
just let go and explored?

So, I was immediately curious to find out more details on
how to play along.

Turns out the day I heard about it was the official kick-off
day…gah, already behind! But I didn’t let that deter me. I figured I could
spend some time that day mulling ideas for my 100 day plan. I initially thought
of being really specific and focusing only on curves. And it may very well end
up there. But I didn’t want to narrow my scope too early on and box myself in.
The concept of improv kept coming back to me. I just adore a good improv
quilting session, what better way to further explore that area of interest.

And then I thought of these little fabric snippets and
orphan blocks that I’ve had sitting patiently in a Ziplock bag just waiting for
me to play. I’ve been meaning to since April 2016, in fact! Ever since I
initially started stacking these pretty cut offs while preparing my hexies and
triangles for my Weight of Love quilt.
And since then, I’ve been dreaming about sitting down and creating with them.

While I have some orphan blocks and larger fabric scraps
left, my heart has really been set on playing with this stack of lopsided
triangles – or scalene triangles as they are officially known. And so that’s
where my project started. The parameters are open – my goal has been to have fun and
focus on modern improvisational quilting, wherever that may take me.
Essentially no rules 😉 No pattern, just me and these little fabric
scrap gems.

By Day 45 these little scraps had dwindled considerably.

I’m amazed that I’ve been able to create 36 modern unique improv blocks from the fabric scraps I had. And, I probably could have kept going for a few more, but wanted to save some for binding.

Once I had my blocks all stitched up, the next little bit of
this creative challenge was focused on pulling these 36 blocks together to form
a cohesive design.

When I found myself at the quilt layout step of this quilty
journey, I hadn’t a clue where it was headed, but isn’t that all part of the
fun?! After several days of just mulling, staring at my design wall and playing
with quilt block layout, I finally decided to go with my initial instinct. Since
I was loving seeing them paired next to one another, but didn’t want the
overall design to be TOO chaotic, I opted for quadrants separated by solid
strips laid out in a way that it appears to be spinning. Almost like a
windmill.

It’s still a little crazy, but now it is more controlled
chaos 😉

To help keep the focus on the quadrants, I added a thick
white border to help keep it light and bright. The borders give the design room
to breath and give it a sense of floating in space.

What surprised me the most was that I got the backing and
ALL of the basting done in less than a half day. That’s a record for me.
Normally, I finish piecing the backing of the quilt and then have to work up to
the basting stage. Ugh, that’s really not my fave step. But, this time, it got
done lickitysplit. Which was awesome, as I didn’t end up dreading that task for
days before finally doing it!!

And so far, I’m loving the challenge! There have been days
where I just wasn’t feeling it. It’s kinda akin to when you don’t want to
workout! But you start anyways and soon realize that you’re into it…there have
been days like that. Even better, is that some of those off days produced some
of my best little improv blocks.

Overall, this project has been a great lesson in staying the
course and plowing through even when you might not be in the mood. It’s amazing
what you can create even when you start off a session not entirely in the mood!
There is something to be said for showing up at your sewing table and just
starting. By the end of my daily session I felt accomplished and satisfied,
which is a great feeling to have especially if I started off unsure or not in
the mood.

That
summarizes the first 50 days of the challenge. I’ve really been trying to be
good to post everyday on Instagram. As
it stands, I’m currently on Day 67 of the challenge. If you want to follow
along for the remaining 33 days you can do that here.
I’ve also created a Pinterest board dedicated to this project, which you can
find here.

Since I didn't want to overwhelm you with a bunch of photos in the post, I put together a Flipagram video to show the progression of the first 50 days.

If you’re looking to challenge yourself creatively, explore
new techniques or simply want to develop a new daily habit of making, I
encourage you to give your own 100-day project a go. I bet you’ll be surprised
at the amazing designs you uncover and create.

Just look what you created by setting your parameters, showing up every day and exploring with improv! Thanks for letting us follow along. I have a button that says, "start", and when I am in need of inspiration, I remind myself to just Start!